A trip down memory lane

AT the eastern end of Liberty Avenue that cuts across all the streets of Barangay Socorro from Edsa is Murphy.

Well, the whole place was known as Murphy after Camp Murphy, the original name of Camp Aguinaldo when the Americans held base there. By the 1970s and 1980s and well, to this day, when you say “Murphy”—or “Marphy” as others mis-pronounced it—it pertains mostly to the public wet and dry market.

On days when I didn’t have football practice or I wasn’t in the Ateneo helping out with disaster relief work, I would go with my mom to market at Murphy or at Farmer’s Market.

I hated it at first because it calloused my hands from carrying all these heavy bayongs filled with meat and vegetables. A classmate of mine teased me that no girl would want to hold hands with me because it was getting calloused. Obviously, I got frightened that I would end up as the last Filipino virgin.

One day, while carrying the bayongs at Murphy, I spied a newsstand that sold Atlas Sports Weekly, Sports Flash, Champ, Jingle and Song Hits. And there was this poster of Sharon Cuneta. Yes, it sold for three pesos.

And I bought what I could with the P20 I had. As for the Ate Shawie poster? I hung it underneath the top bunk of our double decker bed.

Come on, who didn’t have a crush on Sharon then? I did.

I would even go pick up my sister at St. Paul’s Pasig just for a glimpse of Sharon.

Well, I had that crush on her until Jackie Lou Blanco came along (remind me to tell you about my Jackie Lou Blanco story when I was in high school).

But this isn’t just about Sharon and Jackie Lou. The sports magazines were life changing.

Through the sports magazines, I entered a different world. I learned about local sports and the various personalities related to them.

I read everything about our Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players, tennis players, golfers, and then some. The sportswriters—joaquin Henson, Henry Liao, Ajay Pathak, Ronnie Nathanielzs, Al Mendoza, Recah Trinidad, Tessa Jazmines, and many others became my writing gods next to comic book writers like Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont and others.

And from the newspapers, I would cut out my favorite columns and paste them into a scrapbook. I had that for years and only lost them during Typhoon Ondoy.

I wondered if I could be a sportswriter one day so I could write about the Crispa-toyota rivalry. Imagine years later when I have become exactly one and I remember those days. I grin from ear to ear.

My entire family rooted for Crispa. I was the sole Toyota fan and had to endure countless taunts from my parents, uncles and aunts. Aside from Sharon and Jackie Lou, the walls of my bedroom were adorned by posters (that I bought from the Ateneo Grade School cafeteria) of players like Sonny Jaworksi and that King Eagle himself, Francis Arnaiz. I even had U-tex’s Fritz Gaston but that was because he played for Ateneo.

I had no Crispa players on my wall let me be clear about that. But if that were to happen today, I would because you learn to appreciate more.

Those posters were sold at the Ateneo for five bucks. And like the Shawie poster, a princely sum back then.

I write about this today because for the first time in ages, I found myself taking a detour to Murphy to avoid the traffic. The deluge of memories was welcome. And although there aren’t any more sports magazines sold on the newsstands (I checked), passing by still made my day.